MUSIC NOTES

MUSIC NOTES

Since 1970 in the “Ordinary Form” (different than the Extraordinary Form or Latin Mass) of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, we have Ordinary Time which comprises two periods: one beginning on the day after the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord - which ends the Christmas season – and goes to the day before Ash Wednesday; the other beginning on the Monday after Pentecost – which ends the Easter season – and continuing until the Saturday before the First Sunday of Advent.

These periods of time combined are the longest stretch in the liturgical year. Ordinary time – from the Latin tempus per annum or ‘time during the year’ – is numbered. The word Ordinary does not refer to plain or common, but comes from the word “ordinal” meaning something that is counted. This is why Sundays in Ordinary Time are referred to in sequence (1st, 2nd, et cetera). The liturgical color normally assigned to Ordinary Time is green, a color that represents growth, both physical and spiritual.

In the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (traditional Latin Mass) these were two distinct seasons known as the Sundays after Epiphany and the Sundays after Pentecost. Other liturgical churches - i.e. Anglican and Lutheran – still refer to these Sundays in that way.